June 1, 2013
England

Care home fury at wind turbine plan

Western Morning News | June 01, 2013 | www.thisisdevon.co.uk

The owners of a residential care home in North Cornwall have revealed their despair after a nearby wind turbine application was granted on appeal despite it being almost unanimously rejected by a Cornwall Council’s planning committee.

The application for a 54-metre single turbine on farm land in Launcells, near Bude, was turned down in August last year by Cornwall Council’s sub-area planning committee with ten votes against and one abstention.

The controversial proposal was condemned by many members of the local community, parish council and local Cornwall councillor, as well as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, but it was granted on appeal by the planning inspectorate last month.

When erected, the single turbine will be within 500 metres of Fairfield Country Rest Home, a five-star residential home and one of the largest employers in the local area.

Sam Pantling, who is director, with his parents, said the application, which was first lodged in late 2011, will have an impact upon the lives of some residents.

He said: “The worst thing for us is that this big turbine will affect our views and the peace and tranquility of our beautiful residential home. That was our big argument against it.

“Local people are against it, the parish council voted against it, the Cornwall councillor was against it, ten of the members of the planning committee voted against it, now one man who’s not elected has gone against everyone else’s opinion. The residents’ families want to us to fight as hard as we can. They feel it is intrusive, are concerned about the impact and are feeling sorry for us.”

When built the wind turbine will stand 54 metres high and sit less than 500 metres away from Fairfield and closer to other properties.

It would have a generating capacity of 330kW and produce the equivalent of enough electricity to supply 258 households.

Paula Dolphin, Cornwall councillor for the area, said: “The thing for me is the localism agenda the government keeps pushing, where it wants local towns and parishes to decided things for themselves and this is so far away from that.

“On this particular application we opposed the cumulative impact it would have on the area, there are quite a few wind turbines already.

” I am in favour of the green agenda and renewable energy, but some areas in Cornwall are really getting to the point where they look industrial, we need to look at this.”


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/06/01/care-home-fury-at-wind-turbine-plan/